Marvel Legacy's X-Men Titles Have Majority Women Leaders

The first two names that people tend to think of when it comes to leaders of the X-Men are its founder, Professor Charles Xavier and a member of his first class of students, Cyclops. Of course, many others have stepped up to give orders throughout the franchise's decades-long run, but the majority of those individuals have been male.

Though it began in Marvel's ResurrXion publishing line, Marvel Legacy has seen a drastic shift in the X-Men's leadership department, with more women stepping to the forefront. And frankly, this change should have happened a long time ago. Not many comic book franchises have the deep roster of strong women characters and a rabid fanbase just dying to see their favorites elevated to new heights like the X-Men.

Marvel Legacy's progressive move was cemented with the original, adult Jean Grey returning from the dead in Phoenix Resurrection: The Return of Jean Grey and the launch of X-Men Red. There are now three ongoing X-Men titles with female leaders -- adult Jean Grey in X-Men Red, young Jean Grey in X-Men Blue and Kitty Pryde in X-Men Gold -- with Jubilee's role in the recently-canceled Generation X making it a fourth. When you count miniseries like Rogue & Gambit (with Rogue's name getting top billing) and New Mutants: Dead Souls (Magik bringing the team together) that number grows even larger, and is a concerted effort by the publisher to give fans something they haven't already seen.

X-Men Gold

In a "back to basics" approach ahead of Marvel Legacy, the X-Men line was relaunched with X-Men Gold featuring a classic lineup of familiar mutants -- Kitty Pryde, Old Man Logan (taking the place of the deceased Wolverine), Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Rachel Grey as Prestige. Instead of Storm, who has led her own team in the past, Kitty Pryde was chosen to be the team's leader and has run with the assignment, establishing the X-Men as a public team on par with the Avengers.

This move towards Kitty didn't come out of thin air, however, and had been building for years after she assumed a mentor role with the time-displaced original team of All-New X-Men. From there, Kitty even took on the mantle of Star-Lord for the Guardians of the Galaxy while Peter Quill tried his hand at ruling Spartax. The spotlight will grow larger for Kitty this summer during the "wedding of the century" to Colossus.

X-Men Blue

Speaking of the original X-Men, they became the focal point in X-Men Blue with the added twist of Jean Grey being in charge over Cyclops. Since being plucked from the past to the present, each team member underwent a significant change, but none more than the potential Phoenix host. All-New X-Men saw Jean begin to explore her powers in new ways while also gaining confidence in herself, all attributes one would want in a leader.

When Magneto was believed to be dead to the world, it was Jean who decided to work alongside the Master of Magnetism in secret. Of course, her teammates weren't keen on the idea of working with their sworn enemy, but it's not the first time enemies have made strange bedfellows in the world of the X-Men.

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X-Men Red

Two Jeans are better than one, which is why Marvel resurrected the real Mccoy in the Phoenix Resurrection miniseries. Back among the living, adult Jean wasted no time acclimating herself to the Marvel Universe as she formed X-Men Red with the hope of crafting a utopian world for mutants and humans alike.

Jean could have taken time to get caught up on what she missed while deceased, but being passive doesn't get things done. Once she showed Nightcrawler her vision of the future, her longtime friend couldn't wait to sign up for her cause. Another example of Jean's leadership was her ability to recruit someone as stubborn as Namor, who himself is accustomed to being the king of a nation.

Generation X

When Generation X first launched in 1994, the series found Jubilee as a member of its inaugural class. In its recently-ended volume, however, Jubilee returned to mentor a new generation of young mutants. Of course, this isn't the same impulsive Jubilation Lee who got on her friends' nerves back in the day, as she now has the added responsibility of raising her adopted son, Shogo.

Jubilee was also wise enough to know she couldn't teach the outcasts of the X-Men world without the help of her friends in Generation X, which is why she brought back Chamber, Husk and M to assist. With her vampire tendencies finally gone, it leaves Jubilee free to continue being a role model for the next generation of X-Men.

Storm, Rogue, Psylocke & More

The women listed above aren't the only ones to take command of a group of X-Men. The first happened in Uncanny X-Men #201 when Storm and Cyclops fought over leadership of the team, with Storm coming out the victor. She was also named the leader of what was then called the "X-Men Gold" team in Uncanny X-Men #281

Rogue has moved up in the X-Men ranks, going from villain-turned-hero to a leader in her own right, as she was put in charge of controversial members Sabretooth and Mystique, along with taking over the reigns of the Avengers Unity Squad from Captain America.

Psylocke has become a mainstay of different versions of X-Force over the years, where she has put her ninja skills to good use while protecting the world from threats too dangerous or deadly for the X-Men to normally handle. Psylocke joined Storm and Rogue for an all-female X-Men unit written by Brian Wood with art by Olivier Coipel, that marked the first time an X-Men team was comprised without any men involved. Elizabeth Braddock is also responsible for gathering Old Man Logan, Bishop, Angel and more together to fight the Shadow King in Astonishing X-Men.

The trend towards more women-led comics shows no signs of slowing down. The sorcerer Magik guest-starred in Secret Warriors on behalf of the X-Men, and will investigate the paranormal in New Mutants: Dead Souls. With a feature film in the works, the miniseries could be used as a springboard for an all-new series. The mercenary Domino will star in a series from writer Gail Simone and artist David Baldeon, and will be played by Zazie Beetz in Deadpool 2 this summer as well.

Marvel's future is bright for the X-Men franchise, and it has women to thank for that.